Danish design hotel in Japan celebrates

A week from now, on December 1, a hotel in rural Japan that has made a name for its Scandinavian design will celebrate its first anniversary.

The Finn Juhl Hotel in Hakuba in the ‘Japanese Alps’ in the centre of the country opened for business in a former lodge one year ago, decorated entirely with furniture by the well-known Danish architect and interior designer Finn Juhl.

The boutique hotel is located at the base of one of Japan’s most popular skiing destinations, surrounded by the mountains. It is known for combining Scandinavian design sensibilities with Japanese elegance.

The founders of OneCollection, Ivan Hansen and Hans Henrik Sørensen, were given the rights to produce Juhl’s designs in 1990 by the designer’s widow Hanne Wilhelm Hansen.

Since then, the brand has helped to protect and carry on Finn Juhl’s legacy. Later, Hansen and Sørensen bought a vintage ski chalet in Nagano and outfitted it completely in the Danish furniture master’s design.

Downplayed elegance
The hotel has six double rooms, each named after a piece by Juhl (the Chieftain, the Poet, the Japan, the Pelican, the 46 and the France) and everywhere “exudes a sense of downplayed elegance, from the soft bedlinen and organic toiletries to the cozy lighting,” Discover Scandinavia says.

There are shared lounge areas, a dining room and a basement bar. The hotel also acts as a kind of showroom for OneCollection, while the interiors have simple white walls, exposed beams, hardwood floors and an open layout in the common areas.

Nagano has more than a hundred ski runs amid mountain peaks of more than 3,000 metres. The hotel itself is within walking distance of the ski-jump used in Nagano’s 1998 Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, there is now a Finn Juhl furniture exhibition at the A Petersen household goods store until December 22.

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